


Crescendo

by Aubrie1234



Category: Bandom, Digimon - All Media Types, Fall Out Boy, Falling in Reverse, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Gabe Saporta cameo, M/M, More tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aubrie1234/pseuds/Aubrie1234
Summary: Patrick Stump wasn’t a hacker, but he was good with computers. Unfortunately for him, that put him in the position to work with digimon to figure out what happened to himself, wrapping him up in an adventure he would've never gotten involved in if he didn't accept a dare and put on that VR headset...





	1. Headfirst Slide into the Digital World on a Bad Dare

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you play the Complete Edition of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth for a month straight. It's going to have some things that are similar to the game and Hacker's Memory while other things will be different. Hope you guys like the first chapter of this mess.

Patrick Stump wasn’t a hacker, but he was good with computers. He supposed that was the reason why so many people liked him at school, because he could make a computer do so many things it wasn’t supposed to. He wasn’t particularly smart, he knew that for a fact, but he just had this _way_ with computers, able to figure out their programming and such in minutes. However, Patrick only ever used this power to help him make better music programs for recording and playing. He was a musician, not a hacker. Simple as that. He just wished people would learn the difference. He was also, unfortunately, of the stubborn sort. He wanted to earn his place among other people, not have his skills be the gateway for him. So when someone challenges him on what he can and can’t do, Patrick doesn’t back down. Later, when he realizes his mistake, he hates his pride but there’s nothing to be done now, is there?

“There’s no way you’re as good as people say.” The new kid, Gabe, said.

“I can do anything I set my mind to!” Patrick protested. They were sitting at their desks as they waited for the teacher to arrive, among other students. Gabe had moved to Winona High School just a few days ago and had plenty to say. He was able to get as many friends in three days as Patrick had earned in three weeks. Jealousy wasn’t an unknown emotion to Patrick but he couldn’t help feeling it around Gabe. He had reasoned that if he could be friends with the new kid, then maybe he’d earn more genuine ones. As it was, people liked him, but genuine friends were less than zero. Patrick had wanted to make friends but Gabe was having none of it, unconvinced of the tales of Patrick’s skills. That led up to now.

“Okay then, prove it!” Gabe said, “I dare you to hack into EDEN!” There were gasps. Patrick gave him a shocked look. EDEN? Was he serious? EDEN was the virtual world everyone was raving about, where you could get so many things done in virtual reality without having to leave your home. It was also as secure as a bank vault in hacking terms. Patrick supposed he could hack into a part of the virtual world and then maybe Gabe would accept him. The only trouble was, some who took the journey would suddenly go into comas and not wake up. This was EDEN Syndrome. Patrick had never been a virtual reality person and the EDEN Syndrome stuff had turned him off from going to EDEN, let alone making an account.

“I can do that!”

“From the _inside_.” Okay, doing it from the inside the virtual world would definitely be harder. He had no experience there. But his pride was on the line.

“Deal.” Patrick agreed, “I can do it this afternoon.”

“Make sure to get some proof, too.” Gabe said, “Otherwise I’m gonna call bullshit.”

And that was how he found himself, setting up the virtual reality port on his laptop at home. His parents were out on vacation, leaving him home alone. That was what he needed. To access EDEN, all you needed was a port to connect, whether from home or on-the-go. Another good idea was to have a device that could use the DigiLine messaging system, the main messaging system inside EDEN, but Patrick wasn’t one for it. He had a basic phone that could receive texts and make calls, but that was it. And he was happy with it. You also needed a device that could store URLs for the places in EDEN, which was usually coupled with the DigiLine, but Patrick could just jot them down on his phone. He didn’t need fancy things to get stuff done.

 _I just need to find a place to go where I won’t be disturbed._ he thought. Once the port was connected, he started setting up his account and his avatar. His parents had gotten him the port as a birthday present if he ever wanted to join EDEN, since they knew how well he worked with computers. After it was plugged in to the computer, it had a headset that would take your consciousness into the virtual world. Patrick was now grateful for their gift, as it saved him about two hundred dollars, several days to wait, and some wounded pride. He wasn’t the kind of guy to hide behind a mask and so his avatar looked just like him when he was done. All that was left now was to log in and hope for the best. Patrick really hoped that he didn’t contract EDEN Syndrome or worse while doing this. As it was, hacking such a huge place was very dangerous. But he’d accepted the dare… His hand hovered over the touchscreen of his laptop for a moment, but he tapped ACCEPT and allowed himself to log in to EDEN.

It’s hard to describe how your consciousness from the real world is transferred into the virtual one. Said consciousness is digitized one thought at a time until it’s all part of your avatar’s memory data and you find yourself in the world of EDEN, but describing how it goes, how it feels… That’s just something no one can say. It didn’t take a minute for Patrick to find himself in EDEN. Now that he was in, he needed to find somewhere to start hacking. However, he only had one URL and that was the Entrance. Not a good place to hack into the world. But maybe there was someone there who had a good idea of where he could go. So Patrick headed there first, flying through the virtual world with ease. He had to admit, this was exhilarating. While he’d researched what EDEN was like and what it had to offer, there was nothing that could really describe the experience of being able to fly, even if it _was_ virtual. Maybe he’d need to give this place another shot after this was all done.

He landed on the Area Pad and looked around. He’d seen the size from flying around but the Entrance Area was large and grand. There were three levels to it, including the one he was standing on. He could see a terminal on the second level, probably to buy items if you had an account connected to your avatar. But nobody looked like they knew how to hack into things. And Patrick didn’t feel comfortable asking them if they knew of somewhere he could go to. Well, that defined the majority. There was one guy Patrick could see in the back of the area that looked kinda shady. Odds were he knew at least _something_. As Patrick moved closer, he could see that it was a guy with tanned skin and black hair, wearing a dark red hoodie, white and black-checkered vans, and black jeans. His eyes were dark, as were the area around them, like he was wearing eyeliner. He didn’t look too much older than Patrick, maybe just a couple of years older. Patrick himself had on a white polo with a blue jacket, brown sneakers, tan pants, and glasses, all complimented by his green trucker hat. He had an affinity for hats, they allowed him to hide if he wished, both in the real and virtual worlds. Patrick leaned up against the wall beside the guy and looked around a little. He had a better vantage point of the area here, but it still didn’t compare to flying around. He just had to ask this guy about a place to go, but Patrick wasn’t much of a people person. He hoped he could hold it together and didn’t come off as a nervous-

“Hey.” The guy began, “Nice hat.” Patrick blushed and automatically reached up to adjust his hat.

“Thanks. You don’t think it’s tacky or something?” No one seemed to like his hats at school.

“No way. They’re charming.” said the stranger, “I haven’t seen you before. What are you doing in EDEN?”

“Dare.” Patrick sighed. The guy nodded.

“Do you need any help with it?” Patrick blinked. He hadn’t planned on this.

“You...wanna help me?”

“Sure.” He shrugged, “‘S not like I’ve got anything else to do.”

“Well, I don’t think you can help me.” Patrick said.

“How can I not help you? What’s your dare?” Patrick crossed his arms.

“Why should I tell you? You’re just a stranger.”

“Oh right.” The guy smacked his own forehead. He then held out his hand, “I’m Pete.”

“...Patrick.” They shook hands.

“Now tell me why I can’t help you.” Pete said. Patrick frowned. He didn’t know his way around this place but it was clear Pete was a regular. He could use the assistance and so he lowered his voice.

“I need to find a place so I can hack into EDEN.” Pete’s eyebrows shot up.

“Wow. Bad boy.” He grinned, “I know just the place.” They stood in place for a few moments.

“And why don’t you give me the URL?” Patrick asked.

“Trust me, the URL’s better off staying in the few hands that know it. Besides, going alone to this place isn’t a good idea.” Patrick raised an eyebrow. He knew the stories of people losing their accounts to hackers and such, but how could EDEN be dangerous?

“Show me.” Patrick said, “I need to hack into EDEN today or I’ll lose the dare and I’m no loser!”

“Okay, but don’t blame me if you get hurt.” Pete shrugged. He exited the area and Patrick followed. Pete gave him a temporary URL and they flew deeper into EDEN, zooming past hundreds of other platforms. The further they went into the spherical world, the darker it got. It made Patrick nervous. Eventually they came across a firewall, but the URL allowed them to enter. The firewall hadn’t looked like child’s play, either. This was a strongly-guarded area. Where was Pete taking him? Finally, they came to an Area Pad in what looked like another world. It was dark with neon blue highlights and the landscape was dotted with gigantic lightning bolts. Every so often one would light up.

“This is the Valhalla Server, the oldest and biggest of all of EDEN’s servers.” Pete walked forward, “Gotta be careful here. It’s got security by the tons!”

“And how do you know that?” Patrick demanded, not venturing any further until he knew more. The place looked scary enough as it was. Pete looked sheepish.

“I, well, I’m a hacker. Kinda. I have hacker friends, even if I’m not much of one myself. They share some of the URLs with me if I wanna go somewhere new. This just happened to be one of those URLs.”

“They must be amazing. This is a tough place to crack as is!” Patrick carefully stepped forward. When no traps were set off, he moved to Pete’s side. He’d programmed his avatar to allow him to work directly with the computer programming just before he’d logged in, so he brought up a screen to work with. He frowned when he saw the heavily fortified login page for the server. He closed the screen, “I think we might have to go farther in if I stand a chance of getting inside.”

“Alright. Thankfully for you, I know a shortcut. Just follow me.” Patrick stuck close to Pete as the older teen guided him through the lightning-dotted server.

“What’s the security like? You mentioned there’s a lot of it but I haven’t seen anything.” Patrick asked.

“That’s because I stay out of their way.” Pete shivered, “There are literal monsters that guard this place and make it their home. I’ve found a way around them and, since I don’t do anything, they tend to leave me alone. The second you start trying to hack in, they might come after us.”

“They can’t be that scary, right?” Patrick glanced around, but he could see nothing except himself, Pete, and the path they were traversing. And what if Pete was leading him into a trap? But Pete was also the one with the URL and had an idea of how to get out of this place, so Patrick had no choice but to trust him. It wasn’t like he could ask many questions at the Entrance without them being overheard, anyway. So he’d have to put his trust in a complete stranger with amazing hacker friends. Why couldn’t he have pushed his pride and stubbornness aside and turned down the dare? Patrick hated himself for being so stupid. After several more minutes of walking through the server, they eventually came to a large area with a black diamond in the middle.

“Careful. That’s the heart of the server. Apparently it’s protected by an insanely tough monster.”

“I don’t think I need to get close.” Patrick said. He brought up the screen again. Now that he was deeper into the server and closer to its inner workings, it was easier for him to crack through the login page. He just needed to come away with proof. This was the oldest server in EDEN, Pete had said, so maybe he could take out some of the older junk data. But Gabe might not understand it and call it out. He’d need physical proof and no picture was going to get him anywhere, he didn’t think. But taking one wouldn’t hurt. His phone had a camera function and so he took a quick snapshot. He also took a picture of his login data of being in the Valhalla Server and took out some of the junk data. There wasn’t much else he could do without possibly setting off the security system. Patrick had to hope that this would be enough. He logged out of his hacking session.

“Any monsters?” he asked.

“Not that I can see.” Pete shook his head, “It’s weird, everything’s quiet and it shouldn’t be. There should be monsters _everywhere_ and I haven’t seen any!”

“Then let’s get out of here. I got what I came for.” They headed back to the Area Pad, but before they could take more than a few steps, the dark area was lit up by an orange light. They looked up to see an orange ball of light and a nautilus shape began to form around it. Out of the orange light then came what could only be described as a grey squid creature. In the center of it was a glowing red eye. They backed away as the orange light disappeared, leaving them back in the dark with the squid.

“Is that one of the monsters?” Patrick asked nervously.

“No!” Pete shook his head, “We need to get out of here!”

“Head to the diamond! You said there’s a monster guarding it, right? Maybe it’ll protect us!” They ran to the black diamond. The squid floated after them, scarily quick and menacing. When they were almost on under the diamond was when the monster appeared. A huge sword came down between them and the squid. Patrick and Pete slid under the diamond and looked back. Standing between them and the squid was a large humanoid figure clad in armor, wielding the giant sword as well as two smaller ones. The shield on its back had a yellow, ribbon-like engraving in it and it had purple dressings. All in all, it looked like an oversized knight.

“Intruders detected.” it murmured in a male voice, “Flee now or be terminated.” The squid creature just hit the knight with its tentacles but it barely seemed to dent the monster. It went on, “Very well. Prepare to be destroyed. _Berserk Sword!_ ” The sword it wielded grew incredibly huge before it slashed at the squid. The squid was blown back by the attack but came back for more, slamming the knight with what seemed to be a stronger tentacle attack. As they fought, Pete grabbed Patrick and they ran back the way they’d come. The distraction had worked and they weren’t going to waste it. They ran back through the area but when they stepped on the Area Pad, nothing happened.

“We’ve got a URL! I don’t know why we can’t leave!” Pete exclaimed.

“Let me look.” Patrick hacked into Pete’s phone as well as his own, “Something’s blocking the URLs from transmitting!”

“Do you think it’s that squid thing?”

“Maybe.” Patrick closed his hacking screen, “We might not be able to leave until it’s destroyed.”

“Not good.” Pete rubbed his face, “I’m sorry for getting you into this, Patrick. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not. I was the one who agreed to come here, the one who wanted to hack this thing in the first place.” Patrick sat down, knowing this might take a while, “What was that thing? The squid, I mean.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Pete sat down as well, “I think I’ve heard of it, though. There have been rumors going around EDEN about a monster that’ll eat your data and give you EDEN Syndrome. That might be it but I don’t know.”

“I definitely came after us, though. If it wasn’t for that knight thing…”

“Yeah.” Pete nodded. They sat in silence for a while, looking around sometimes to keep an eye out, and Patrick would bring up his hacking screen sometimes to see if they could get through. He tried to fix the transmission of the URL but he couldn’t get through. Something powerful was blocking the transmission and Patrick was afraid they were stuck there unless something was done. As he was making his third try, the signal suddenly weakened and he could hack through.

“Pete! Quick, get on the pad! I think I can get us back!”

“Really?” Pete grew excited but it quickly fell as he saw something across the area from them. Patrick looked and blanched. It was the squid thing! He tried to get the transmission patched as quickly as he could and made Pete go first. It was the least he could do for the man he’d dragged into this mess.

“But-”

“No buts! Just go!” Pete was able to fly off as soon as he stepped on the pad, but the squid was quickly catching up. Patrick had to get out now! It was only a few steps away, but as he lunged for it, the squid grabbed his foot. He jerked to a stop on top of the Area Pad as pain filled his virtual body. He’d been hurt before in the real world, yet this was different. It felt like his body was being torn apart, piece by piece, even as the pad activated underneath him. He cried out as darkness engulfed him and lost consciousness.

* * *

_Poke. Poke. Poke._

_“Hey… Hey, you…”_

_“Agumon, I don’t think-”_

_“He’s still breathing, he has to be alive.”_

_Shaking._

_Smack._

_“Don’t do that! He could be hurt!”_

_“At least we can still touch him…”_

* * *

When Patrick woke up, he had a pounding headache. He sat up and rubbed his head. The last thing he remembered was trying to escape from the squid thing in EDEN’s Valhalla Server. At least he was still alive. He did a quick look around and found himself back in his room, on his bed. Was he just forced to log out when it got him? He took his hand off his head and froze. His hand was now blue and cyber, and sometimes a light blue line would flow across the surface. He had a mirror hanging on his dresser. He got up and moved to it. He looked like his avatar in shape, but lacked any identification. All he was was a Patrick-shaped blue and white blob. But he still seemed to be cyber, even in the real world. What had happened? He moved to his computer, then stopped. Sitting in his chair was him, still with the headset.

“EDEN Syndrome.” he whispered. At least he could still talk. How long had he been out? He slowly, gently moved the chair with his real body off to the side and fiddled with the computer. It was the day after he’d logged in, around noon. He was missing school, but that was the least of his problems. Somehow, he was still alive as his cyber self but lacking his real body. He sat on his bed again and put his head in his hands. What could he do now? He only looked up when his computer pinged. It was an email. He went over and opened it. There was no way to tell who the sender was, it was too jumbled and he was too stressed at the moment, but it was addressed to him. All it said was, _“Do you want your life back?”_

 _‘Yes.’_ Patrick typed back without thinking. There was no way he could live like this and what would become of his body? Right after he sent it, he got a response in the form of a portal opening in front of him and a flash of light. He was forced to close his eyes and when he opened them again, he wasn’t in his room anymore. He was in a cream-colored room with various computers arranged in the middle, near the top of a large twist of wires. There were also various portals scattered about the room, similar to the screens he could pull up in EDEN. And sitting at the base of the wires was a humanoid being, similar to an angel. There were three pairs of wings on its back and in one hand it held a giant golden key, like what you might see in _Kingdom Hearts_. It wore red, white, and yellow, with a red and white helmet covering its upper head and eyes. The angel gave Patrick a smile.

“I’m glad you took up the offer.” The angel stood and bowed, “My name is ClavisAngemon. I’m going to help you if you let me. You want your life back, don’t you?”

“I-I do.” Patrick nodded, “What _are_ you, though?”

“I see. Please, sit.” ClavisAngemon waved the key and a chair appeared beside him. Patrick walked over and took it. Not like he had much choice at the moment. ClavisAngemon went on, “I’m what’s known as a digimon. It’s short for ‘Digital Monster’ and I come from the Digital World. It’s a world very much like the virtual created in EDEN but it’s where digimon live and thrive, like myself. There are many different types of digimon and we used to live peacefully in the Digital World, until EDEN was created. Somehow, the virtual reality of EDEN began to cross over with the Digital World and digimon began to become lost in the confines of the new world. We also had to flee creatures that began to invade our own world, one of which got to you.”

“I noticed.” Patrick drawled, “What do they do?”

“Usually they consume data. Yet somehow, you survived.” ClavisAngemon pointed to him, “I think that, perhaps, you may have the key to restoring the data those monsters eat.”

“But how will that help me?” Patrick looked at his hands, “There’s no way I can go out looking like this. And my body…” Patrick knew that seeing his own body like that had shaken him up badly. ClavisAngemon put a gentle hand on the human’s shoulder.

“Then go back to where you were. There may be junk data there after the attack that can fix your visual form. As for your real body, leave it in the care of professionals until we can find a way to fix things. I am here to help you, for my world is in as much danger as yours. If we work together, then hopefully everyone wins.”

“And this place?” Patrick looked around, “I don’t think this is part of EDEN.”

“It’s not.” ClavisAngemon smiled, “I didn’t make it myself, but it’s made to help digimon. If you ever need anything, come here. The URL is already in your Digivice.”

“Digivice?” The digimon nodded. He held out a hand and a small orb of light appeared. It slowly drifted down and disappeared until all that was left was a watch. At least, it looked like a watch. There were no arrows or numbers on its face, no way to tell time. It was just a clear orb with a grid pattern and was green, like the rest of the watch.

“If you want to fix things, then you must work with the digimon. This will help you do that and make some things easier for you. Included inside it is a databank for URLs you aquire, a DigiLine, an item bank, places to store digimon, and more.” Patrick took it and strapped it on his left wrist, “There are no digimon in it at the moment, but as you grow stronger, I’m sure you’ll make new friends. In fact, some of them found you and brought you to me. They’re trying to find your visual data right now. Go see them and fix your life.”

“Thank you.” Patrick, if he had been back in his real body, was sure he’d be crying, “I don’t deserve this.”

“But you may be the only one who can do anything, so you deserve it anyway. Now go.” Patrick nodded. When he stepped on the Area Pad, he found himself back in his room. Immediately he set about hacking into his school’s servers and changing things around with his records so his education wouldn’t be hurt from this. He’d try to homeschool himself while this was going on and no one would be the wiser, right? He also called 911 and faked being one of his neighbors, saying that Patrick hadn’t gone to school today and that the apartment was locked with no answer. Hopefully, no one would call his parents, but he couldn’t be sure of that. He turned to look at his body. He couldn’t come back here, not until things were fixed. He turned back to the computer and accessed EDEN. Like when he’d entered the strange space with ClavisAngemon, a portal opened in front of him and he was taken through it, straight to the virtual world.

 _“Welcome, Patrick. Enjoy your visit!”_ He heard a woman’s voice greet him before he found himself flying above EDEN once again. It was the same greeting he’d heard the first time he’d entered, so at least he could still log in. Briefly, he wondered how any of this was possible, as a digital avatar shouldn’t exist outside of EDEN, but why dwell on it when all sense had been thrown out the window? He typed in the URL for the Valhalla Server and began flying down again. He closed eyes as he tried to block out the memories of the disastrous encounter. Pete had no idea what they were up against, but at least he’d escaped. Where was he now? Did he even wonder what had happened to Patrick? Maybe, if they happened to see each other again, Patrick would get an answer. Pete had been nice to him and had honestly regretted the journey, wanting to get them both out of the server, so maybe Pete had genuinely cared about him. That was a drastic change compared to the ‘friends’ he saw every day at school. He then came to a stop and Patrick found himself back in the Valhalla Server.

“Where do I even begin?” he muttered to himself. His Digivice beeped. Curious, he looked and saw that it was flashing a green light. While he hadn’t been shown how to work with it, it was easy enough to figure out. He tapped the surface and a screen was projected into the air. It was the DigiLine and there was a message from ClavisAngemon.

 _'Hope things are going well. Look for Agumon and Gabumon. Their entries are already unlocked in the Digimon Manual if you need more information.'_ The Digimon Manual? Exiting the DigiLine, Patrick tapped on the book-like app and what seemed to be a dictionary popped up. Most pictures were in black and he couldn’t access them. He scrolled through the dictionary until he came across two entries that were in color. One had a black dinosaur and the other had a black and white horned dog-like digimon. They were labelled Agumon (Blk) and Gabumon (Blk), respectively. He wondered if the (Blk) was there because they were different versions of already discovered digimon and that’s how they were named. Regardless, he now had an idea of who to look for. He’d take the shortcut Pete had used so he wouldn’t get attacked, but if that didn’t work, he’d have to explore the place. Hopefully he wouldn’t get himself into a dangerous situation. Patrick was broken up enough as it was, literally!

As he walked the path, he would find cubes of data that he knew were junk and would analyze them. If they could work as visual data, then he kept them. He was able to find two cubes before he came across his first monsters. At first, in the ever-present darkness, he almost didn’t see them. They were dark in color and so blended in well. But then he saw the white and yellow highlights of one and knew that he’d found Gabumon and Agumon. He almost didn’t see Gabumon because he was behind the other digimon. But at least he knew who he was seeing.

“Hello?” Patrick asked. They both jumped and Gabumon hid behind Agumon. He looked frightened and Agumon straightened himself.

“Who are you?” asked the dinosaur.

“I’m Patrick.” He knelt so they wouldn’t be too scared by him, “I was told you two helped me?”

“Oh yeah!” Agumon nodded, “I recognize you now! You didn’t look human, being blue and all. But we couldn’t just leave you there, so we tried to find help for you.”

“That was how we met ClavisAngemon.” Gabumon said, not much above a whisper. Patrick had to strain to hear his soft voice. He peeked at the human from behind Agumon.

“We were trying to find a way to help you and ClavisAngemon suddenly appeared out of nowhere!” added Agumon, “He helped us take you back to your world.”

“We wanted to help you, and so he gave us a job.” Gabumon continued, “We’re supposed to find visual data.”

“I was told.” Patrick took out the blocks he’d found, “If we can find a few more pieces, then I should look like my old self again. How many have you found?”

“Lots!” Agumon took Patrick over to the small pile they’d made of random junk data. Patrick looked through the pile for about a minute before he found the missing pieces he needed. Hacking into the pieces, he assimilated them into his avatar’s code and soon enough he looked like he had before the squid had attacked.

“So _this_ is what you look like?” Agumon asked, “You look weird.”

“Says the talking dinosaur.”

“Says the hairless ape with a strange hat.” Gabumon shot back.

“Okay, fine, we all look weird. Happy?” said Patrick. Agumon nodded while Gabumon smiled, “Then I guess our next step is to get out of here and head back to ClavisAngemon.”

“Right.” The two digimon nodded again. They followed behind Patrick as he took them along the shortcut. It was still fairly empty in the server and was making Patrick a little nervous. He trusted Pete’s word on the security, so where were the monsters?

“Are you guys digimon too?” he asked as they walked.

“Yep!” Agumon nodded, “I’m Agumon and this is Gabumon!”

“Hi.” whispered Gabumon. He gave a wave.

“Do you live here?”

“Naw. We used to live in the Digital World before we came to this weird place.” Agumon said, “We’ve been staying in other parts of EDEN until we can find a way back home.”

“I hope we get to stay with ClavisAngemon. I don’t like being out in the open.” said Gabumon.

“You guys could stay with me if you want.” Patrick offered, “I wanna pay you back for finding me and this way we could try and find a way back home for you guys too.”

“Really?! That’d be so cool!”

“Thank you!” Patrick couldn’t help but smile as their faces lit up with happiness.

“ _Mega Flame_!” The fire attack came out of nowhere and they were forced to the ground just to dodge it. Patrick looked around and it didn’t take long to spot the giant orange and blue dinosaur not too far from them. How had they not noticed it? Now it was charging them.

“ _Spitfire Blast_!” Agumon spit his own fireball at the larger dinosaur as Gabumon grabbed Patrick and dragged him away.

“What the hell?!” exclaimed the human.

“That’s a Greymon.” said Gabumon, “They’re really aggressive digimon and can really hurt you!”

“We can’t just leave Agumon behind!”

“We’re not. You just need to go before you get hurt!” Gabumon pushed him away one last time before joining his friend in fighting the Greymon.

“ _Petit Fire_!” A small stream of blue flame erupted from Gabumon’s mouth. But like Agumon’s attacks, Gabumon’s were doing nothing to damage the Greymon. Patrick couldn’t just stand by and let them get hurt for helping him. He activated his Digivice. There had to be a way to help them with it, right? There was an app on it that allowed him to analyze the battle and he could see their attributes and types. All three digimon had the Fire attribute, but Agumon and Gabumon were Virus types while Greymon was a Vaccine type. Apparently, from what the included battle guide described, this was a _really_ bad matchup. They couldn’t deal as much damage to Greymon and could be terribly hurt by its stronger attacks. But he still had no idea what he could do.

“ _Great Antler_!” Both smaller digimon were thrown away by Greymon’s attack. If Patrick didn’t do something, who knows what would happen to Agumon and Gabumon? They could be killed! He ran to their sides, where they were struggling to get to their feet.

“I thought...I told you to go.” Gabumon groaned.

“I’m not letting you get hurt.” Patrick said, “Not after all you’ve done for me.” But what could he do? He faced the large dinosaur digimon. Its head was still lowered from the previous attack and looked like it was about to pull a similar one.

“ _Great Antler_!” The Greymon charged forward.

“ _Flame Inferno_!” A wave of fire blocked the Greymon’s path, forcing it to stop. Patrick looked for the source and was immediately struck with fear. It was a demon-like being with clawed, purple wings and red fur. One hand was disfigured and jutted out farther than the other and it had feet with five claws, three in the front and two in the back with a black ankle bracelet. Two large horns jutted out from its head and it had a mouth full of fangs. Yet it had saved them. Why?

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own level? Aren’t you supposed to be one of those Vaccine do-gooders?” came a voice, but it wasn’t from the demon. Stepping out from beside it was an older teenager. He had shaggy black hair and hazel eyes, wearing a black jacket with a red shirt, black vans, and jeans. He also had a Digivice on his left wrist, colored red, and a black armband with red guns on his other arm. He stayed calm and collected in the face of the Greymon as it roared at him. He said, “I’ll take that as a no. Creepymon?”

“ _Slash Nail_!” It flew forward and before the Greymon could do anything, Creepymon slashed the other to bits with its disfigured hand. The Greymon disappeared in a burst of pixels. It then flew back to the teen’s side and they made their way over to Patrick.

“Hey, you guys okay?” asked the teen.

“I’m fine, but these guys-!”

“Let me see.” Patrick moved out of his way. He looked over Agumon and Gabumon with practiced ease. Then he opened his Digivice and accessed something that looked like a storage app. He pressed something and some red and white pills appeared in his hand. He presented them to the digimon.

“Each of you get two. It should make you feel better, I promise.” The digimon took the pills. As soon as they’d swallowed the medicine, both of them perked up considerably as their wounds healed. It was like they hadn’t been harmed in the first place.

“Thank you so much.” Patrick said, “Who are you?”

“I’m Gerard.” The elder helped Patrick to his feet, “What’s a greenie like you doing in a danger zone like this?”

“I was looking for something.” No need to tell Gerard the whole truth, “Greenie?”

“You’re so new at this that you brought two Rookies into a Champion-only area. And they fought a Vaccine type, which they are weak against. If I wasn’t here, you would’ve lost and probably gotten mauled by that Greymon.” Patrick blushed.

“Well, thanks again for helping me.” Patrick’s eyes strayed to Creepymon, who now stood on the ground beside Gerard. The elder followed his gaze and grinned.

“Don’t think you can fight this guy. He’s a Mega and could wipe you out faster than that Greymon.” Patrick swallowed. He didn’t want to fight that digimon anyway, “Hey, if you’re done looking for whatever, we can escort you out. You kinda need it.”

“We’d like that, thanks.” Patrick nodded. They continued on their way back towards the Area Pad. Patrick asked, “Why _were_ you here, anyway?”

“Eh.” Gerard shrugged, “Creepymon and I like to come out here to train sometimes. What were you looking for?”

“I came out here with a friend but we got separated and I lost something important to me. Thought I could come out here on my own and get it myself.”

“Well, you’ve got spunk, I’ll give you that.” Gerard looked at Gabumon and Agumon, “They’re nice digimon. Become good friends with them and they’ll do anything for you.” They finally came to the Area Pad.

“How can I thank you?” Patrick asked. He didn’t want to separate with a debt he wouldn’t be able to repay.

“Here, give me your Digivice.” Gerard played with it for a few moments before handing it back, “I just gave you my number and took yours. If you ever need anything, just message me. Now get out of here before you guys get mauled again.” Patrick didn’t argue. After stepping on the pad, Gabumon and Agumon disappeared before he returned to EDEN. He checked his Digivice and found them stored inside. He used the DigiLine to talk to them.

_‘Are you both okay?’_

_‘Yeah, but it’s weird in here.’_ said Agumon.

 _‘Don’t say that! It’s fine, Patrick.’_ said Gabumon, _‘Let’s hope we never get on Gerard’s bad side.’_ Patrick couldn’t have said it better himself.

 _‘Let’s go see ClavisAngemon. Hopefully he has some new ideas on what to do next.’_ Patrick wanted to find Pete but knew that the sooner he found a way to fix himself, the sooner things would go back to normal.


	2. Dragon Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, somehow there's another chapter. Hope you guys like it.

Gabumon and Agumon came out of the Digivice when they arrived in the special area. ClavisAngemon gave them all a smile.

“I see the mission was successful. As for our next step, we need to figure out how you became like this and how it relates to the creatures that’ve been attacking the Digital World.”

“All I know is that I was trying to log out with Pete in the Valhalla Server when that thing grabbed me as I was stepping onto the Area Pad.” Patrick said, “Maybe something happened at that point, like the squid’s program mixing with the EDEN logout program and causing this.”

“Then that’s where we’ll start. You said your friend logged out before you, right? Find him and learn what happened next. Maybe he knows something that happened after you transformed.”

“He has his own life, though. It might take days before I find him.” Patrick said, “I need to do something else until then, something more concrete.”

“Then perhaps you should contact the other people in your life and let them know you’re okay. I know you have another life and you need to keep that alive.” said ClavisAngemon, “I’ll leave you be.” Agumon went over to join ClavisAngemon but Gabumon stayed by Patrick.

“I know I don’t know much about what’s going on, but I wanna help.” he said, “Just ask.” He then went to join the others. Patrick knew Gabumon wasn’t exactly the most outgoing digimon and so was grateful for the offer. He took out his phone. He didn’t have many people he was close to. He’d already solved the problem at school but he had to make sure his parents wouldn’t come home early or that he had EDEN Syndrome. He typed in the number for his mother’s cell and waited, hoping it would connect. Much to his relief, she picked up almost immediately.

“Patrick? Sweetie, what is it?” she yawned.

“Just wondering when you’ll come home, Mom.” he said. He checked the Digivice for the time. It was set to Chicago’s time zone and so showed 5:43 in the afternoon. His mother could’ve been sleeping for all he knew.

“Couple more weeks, I think. The conference can’t go on much longer.” Patrick frowned. He’d need to keep his parents busy. Or maybe there was a way he could work with this, as long as they didn’t know he had EDEN Syndrome. He’d be living a double-life, but then no one would be any wiser, right? Patrick shook his head. He didn’t think he could do that to his parents. He couldn’t lie to them. So he just had to stall them for as long as he could.

“Why don’t you and Dad take some time to see the sights after it’s done? I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff to see in Japan and I can wait for another month.”

“Patrick, we wanna be home with you soon. Besides, we’ve already seen a lot of things while we’ve been here. Don’t you want us to come home?”

“Of course I do. I miss you so much, but I don’t wanna be the reason you have to come home so soon. You need to enjoy yourselves.”

“Patrick-” He had to hang up before she made him say more. He hated doing it, but he hated lying to his parents even more. And if they didn’t stay in Japan, then he’d have to make them stay somehow. He didn’t like any of it one bit. He stood in silence, putting his phone away. Gabumon came back to him.

“Are you okay, Patrick?”

“Yeah.” A digital avatar shouldn’t be able to cry, and yet… He lifted his glasses so he could wipe at his eyes, “Let’s go find Pete. Can’t be too hard to find, right? Unless he’s not coming back to EDEN after that, but I doubt it. We should ask around for him.”

“That’s the spirit!” Agumon said, “Let’s go!”

“Be safe.” said ClavisAngemon, “Take these.” He held out some pills like what Gerard had used, “If they get hurt, give them these. They’re human made but heal digimon quite nicely.”

“So, there are other humans that work with digimon?” He’d seen Gerard and Creepymon, but Patrick had thought that they were just an anomaly. Knowing that there were others put him a little more at ease. ClavisAngemon nodded.

“Yes. They tend to be hackers like you, but they work with digimon. However, some work with digimon for evil deeds while others try to work with digimon towards a better goal. Which will you be, Patrick?”

“I think I’m part of the good kind.” The human then stepped on the Area Pad. Because there was no direct route from the special space to EDEN he had to go back through his computer to get back to EDEN. His first stop would be the Entrance. Someone there had to have known Pete and if they didn,’t, then maybe they knew a hacker that could tell him. Pete had said he was friends with hackers, after all. Once he arrived, it didn’t take Patrick long to spot another shady-looking person. You couldn’t see his eyes because of the hood over his head, but everyone seemed to be giving him a wide berth. Hackers weren’t exactly the good guys. Patrick was intimidated by his demeanor but tried not to let it show as he ventured over. There was no need for him to get the hacker’s attention, as the other spoke up when Patrick got close enough.

“What do you want, kid?” asked the hacker.

“Uh, well, I’m trying to find somebody. He has black hair and tanned skin with brown eyes. He wears these white and black-checkered vans and his name’s Pete.” Patrick tried to give out the most distinguishing features of the other teen.

“Pete? Oh yeah, that kid.” The hacker nodded, “He tends to come to EDEN late in the day for a few hours. If he’s not at the Entrance, you might be able to find him at the forum he set up.”

“What forum is that?”

“Here.” Patrick held out his Digivice and the hacker typed in the URL, “Never been there myself but Pete works hard on trying to make it a cool place. You know him?”

“We met once. Thanks.” Patrick bid his goodbyes and walked away. He hoped nothing would go wrong. It had been a day since they’d separated. Pete had no idea what happened to him and Patrick barely knew how to explain it himself. He just wouldn’t explain how he was now half cyber and could exist in the real world. Pete only had to know he was okay and then maybe Pete could help him. Patrick stepped on the Area Pad and once he was in the air he typed in the new URL. The icon that popped up was a generic one with the name PETE’S FORUM. The hacker had said Pete was trying to make it into a cool place but it looked like not much work had been done. Either that or Pete just didn’t know how to work with it. Maybe Patrick could help with that later, when he wasn’t fighting for his life.

Patrick touched down in the forum soon after and looked around. It looked like an empty concert area, but the digital parts of it were seeping into the forum through the walls and the ground, showing up in patches and bits of blocks. No one was here. Patrick decided to sit down and wait. He ventured over to the stage and sat on the edge. Hopefully Pete would arrive soon enough. He knew it might take a long while to meet with Pete, but he didn’t have to worry about sleep or food or anything like that while his body was in a coma. One of the few perks of this gigantic nightmare. Much to his surprise, he didn’t have to wait long. It was only a few minutes later that Pete arrived, along with another avatar. It was another teenager, slightly older than Patrick, with messy dark brown hair and brown eyes. His face was also covered by glasses and he wore a green hoodie in contrast to Pete’s red one. His jeans were white and at the bottom of one leg was a red V stenciled into the bottom, just above his black shoes. Patrick had no idea who he was but it was clear that he was a friend of Pete’s. But as soon as he saw him, Pete stopped.

“Patrick? Patrick!” The tanned teen rushed over to pull Patrick into a hug. It was tight and Patrick struggled to breathe.

“Too tight!” he gasped, pushing on Pete. He didn’t have to worry about air but it was more on an instinct thing. Pete let him go, sheepish.

“Sorry, just, I’m happy you’re okay. I didn’t know what happened after that squid thing tried to get us and I tried to find you and I couldn’t and-”

“I think he gets it, Pete.” said the other teen. He was hanging back near the Area Pad.

“Hi.” Patrick greeted, waving a little. The other waved back. Pete looked between them.

“Uh, yeah. This is Mikey.” Pete made his way back over to the other, “We’re, um, boyfriends. That doesn’t bother you, right?”

“No, not really.” Patrick shook his head. It didn’t matter to him who you loved. His response made Mikey smile.

“Thanks. Glad you’re not, y’know…” Mikey didn’t need to finish for Patrick to understand. He went on, “So, you’re the missing guy Pete’s been talking about all day?”

“Maybe.” Patrick shrugged, “We met yesterday and got into trouble. Pete’s told you all about it?”

“I did.” Pete said, “I’m just glad you’re safe, dude.” He went to hug Patrick again. Now that they were more comfortable with one another, Mikey came closer to sit on the stage beside Patrick. Pete took Patrick’s other side after the hug was done.

“So, what happened after you got out?” asked the hat-wearing teen. Pete leaned back as he thought about it.

“Well, I landed back at the Entrance, but when you didn’t come back, I tried going back to the server. I was blocked out of it completely. All day I’ve been trying to log into it again but I couldn’t. I think maybe the URL’s been changed or something.”

“And nothing else happened?” Patrick asked. Pete tried to think harder.

“There _was_ one thing that happened yesterday, but I didn’t think much about it. After I got out, there was an announcement that EDEN would be down for maintenance that night. Maybe that was because they figured out what we did.”

“Yeah, it popped up on EDEN’s main page about an hour after Pete logged out.” Mikey added, “Usually they do only parts of this place at a time, trying not to disturb people too much, so it was a little weird they were shutting EDEN down completely for a few minutes of maintenance.” Patrick frowned. If Pete couldn’t get back into the Valhalla Server, then how was it possible for Patrick? And for Gerard? Maybe the URL hadn’t changed but someone put a blocker on it again, like when they’d been trapped inside it. He was glad Pete couldn’t go back, just in case the squid thing was still there.

“I got kicked out of EDEN for a while.” Patrick explained, “I managed to get out but I couldn’t log in again until today, so I’m sorry I worried you.”

“But you weren’t hurt, right?”

“No, Pete, I was fine.” Patrick gave the other a smile of reassurance, “But this place is yours?”

“Yeah.” Pete nodded, “I wanna make it into something special but I don’t have enough credits to buy any decorations yet. Mikey’s offered to help buy a few things, but I wanna make this place into something by myself.”

“How’d you get the URL, anyway?” Mikey asked, “I know it’s public, but…”

“I asked another hacker about it and he knew you, so yeah.” said Patrick.

“It’s fine.” Pete said, “Anyone and everyone is welcome here.” They continued to talk for a while longer, but Patrick knew he couldn’t stay too long. The faster he figured out how to fix his predicament, the faster he could go back to being a normal person. He stood up.

“So, I need to get going. I’ve got lots of things to do. But thank you for helping me out, Pete.”

“Did you ever win your bet?”

“Uh yeah. I did.” Patrick nodded. Or he would’ve if he didn’t become a half-cyber freak.

“Well, are you gonna come by tomorrow?” Pete asked.

“Maybe. Depends on my schedule.” Patrick waved, “See you guys later.” He stepped on the Area Pad. He returned to ClavisAngemon a few minutes later.

“So? What happened?”

“It looks like Kamishiro, the guys with control over EDEN, put in a security measure or something after I was attacked. Pete said the servers were down for maintenance across the whole system, which is really unusual. So I don’t get how I could return to the Valhalla Server, since Pete couldn’t.”

“Maybe it has something to do with your half-cyber status.” said ClavisAngemon, “What happened to you might’ve changed something about your avatar that allowed you to enter the locked server.”

“But I wasn’t the only one there! There was another person who saved us, named Gerard. He said he came to the server to train with a Creepymon.”

“A Creepymon? That’s a little troubling.”

“How?” Patrick asked.

“Since digimon started coming to EDEN, a few have bonded with humans and fought alongside them. Humans have tried to do something about it by creating Digivices, like the one I gave you, so they could scan and create digimon of their own. To have such a powerful digimon partner isn’t unheard of, but it also means that almost no one can stand up to Gerard. Creepymon in particular is one of the Seven Demon Lords, very powerful digimon that represent the Seven Deadly Sins. It’s possible Creepymon’s power was what allowed Gerard to enter the server with no trouble.”

“So I can create a digimon of my own?” Patrick looked at his Digivice.

“If you wish.” ClavisAngemon nodded, “You only need to encounter digimon over and over again to get their scan data, and when you have enough you can convert that data into a new digimon. I wouldn’t recommend it, but that’s your choice.”

“Plus, we’re here!” Gabumon and Agumon had left the Digivice as soon as Patrick had arrived. Agumon continued, “We can help you build a team!”

“As long as it’s not Greymon.” Gabumon shivered.

“Thanks, but back on Creepymon.” Patrick wanted to steer things back on track, “So he’s Gerard’s partner and probably was the reason why Gerard could enter the Valhalla Server. If they’re so strong, then there’s no way no one could _not_ have heard of them. They might even know more about the squid thing. I need to find them.”

“Alright. But even though he saved you, be careful.” ClavisAngemon warned, “Creepymon is the representation of Wrath and can easily turn on anyone. Be ready for anything.”

“Thank you.” Patrick nodded. He knew he wasn’t going to let his guard down at all. Gabumon and Agumon joined him again as he left the oasis. He didn’t want to bother Pete and Mikey again and so he went back to the Entrance. It was unlikely Gerard was still in the Valhalla Server, so maybe Patrick could find a place Gerard liked to hang out at. He hoped to find another hacker, maybe even the same one as before. It was now later in the day and not as many people were around, giving Patrick less chances to ask. But there was the telltale hoodie of another hacker, so at least he now had someone he could ask.

“Gerard?” The female hacker gave Patrick a shocked look, “You’re not serious?!”

“I need to find him.” Patrick insisted, “Do you know where I could talk to him?”

“He’s all over the place, it’s not hard to find him unless he goes into hiding. But if you wanna talk to him, go to his forum.” She gave him the URL, “He’s the leader of a group called the Killjoys. They try to keep the peace in Kowloon, which makes up the lower levels in EDEN and are full of digimon.”

“Um, mind giving me the URL for Kowloon, too?” It might be a good place for Patrick to get used to working with digimon.

“Sure, kid.” He bid her goodbye and Patrick headed for the Killjoy Forum. It wasn’t public like Pete’s, not exactly. It wasn’t private, but you definitely needed permission and/or the URL to enter. If you only had one of the two, you were restricted to the front area and couldn’t go in the back, where most of the group likely was. The front area looked similar to a waiting room with lots of chairs and a large security wall blocking the entrance to the back area. Patrick was intimidated by the wall when he saw it. On the front was its level and it was one of those security walls that would fight back if you tried to get past it unauthorized. Level Delta, bright purple and warning, it hummed with power. Yeah, there was no way Patrick was going to fight that thing. To the side was a request board and Patrick went up to it. There were requests for Killjoy members to help with things and requests you could make to the Killjoys, such as if you wanted to join them or something. He worked with it a moment and made a request to speak with one of the Killjoys, preferably Gerard if possible. After Patrick sent the request, he sat down in one of the chairs in the area. He wasn’t the only one out here, but he still felt somewhat alone. He just hoped his request would be answered soon, despite the late hour. It was only a few minutes later that the security wall split in two and moved apart slightly to allow someone through. It was a teen no taller than Patrick with shaggy black hair and brown eyes. He wore a black t-shirt, an army-green vest, and a flag-patterned bandana. There were a few holes in his jeans and he had black shoes with white bottoms. Even though he was a teenager, Patrick could see several tattoos across his arms. That could’ve just been from his avatar, but Patrick had the sense a few of them were from him in the real world, too. He glanced around for a moment before spotting Patrick and made his way over. He didn’t wear a Digivice from what Patrick could see, but there was always the possibility that they weren’t all shaped like watches.

“Hey there. Are you Patrick?” he asked.

“Yeah. Who are you?” Patrick stood to shake hands with the other.

“I’m Frank. I’m kinda Gerard’s lieutenant.”

“Really?” Patrick frowned, “No offense to you, but you don’t seem to look the part.” Frank shrugged.

“I get that a lot. So, what do you wanna ask the Killjoys? Plannin’ to join?”

“No, I just wanted some information.”

“Shoot.”

“Have you heard anything about monsters popping up around EDEN?”

“Like monster digimon or monster monsters?”

“Monster monsters, I guess.”

“Well,” Frank put his hands in his pockets, “There are some urban legends that pop up from time to time or ghost stories that get started. Why do you wanna know?”

“This isn’t a ghost story or something like that.” Patrick said. He crossed his arms, “I’m serious, I saw something just yesterday that I know wasn’t a digimon! It looked like a weird squid, bigger than an avatar. I was hoping Gerard might know what it was.”

“So you’re lookin’ for him, huh?” Frank said, “Never heard of any monster like that except maybe a few digimon, like a Gesomon or MarineDevimon. He tends to share everything with me and Ray, but he also has a few things he keeps to himself. He might be able to help you. But is it worth it to let you see him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have digimon, Patrick?” Frank asked. When he nodded, Frank added, “Bring ‘em out.”

“Uh, okay.” Patrick typed in some words to let Gabumon and Agumon know they could come out. They did and, while Gabumon hid behind Patrick, Agumon greeted Frank with gusto.

“Hi!”

“Hi to you too, dino.” Frank smiled. He looked back at Patrick, “Why do you keep ‘em in your Digivice?”

“Well, I don’t, not really. They can come out when they want.” Patrick looked down at Gabumon, “Why don’t you two come out, anyway?”

“For me, everything’s scary.” said Gabumon, “Agumon keeps me company.”

“Yeah. He gets scared really easily.” Agumon nodded.

“I see.” Frank said. He rubbed Agumon’s head, “Patrick, you can see how they’re living creatures. Everyone in the Killjoys can see it. It’s one of the reasons Gerard created the group. He loves EDEN, it gives him freedom and lets him be who he wants to be. Together with the digimon, he also wants to protect them. So he created the Killjoys as a policing group, in a way.” He met the other’s eyes, “If you get in our way, Patrick, don’t expect to be given a second chance. Gerard’s on Kowloon Lv. 1 with his apprentice.” Frank then left them alone, going back through the security wall. Gabumon whimpered.

“It’s okay.” Patrick rubbed the digimon’s head to comfort him. He also felt unnerved by Frank’s threat. Frank may not have looked threatening but being Gerard’s second-in-command meant he was no pushover.

“He was scary.” Agumon summed up.

“Yeah.” Patrick agreed, “Let’s get going.” The digimon went back into the Digivice and Patrick stepped onto the Area Pad. Kowloon was deeper into EDEN like the Valhalla Server, but not too deep. The whole area was dimly lit and made up of blue blocks of data. Agumon and Gabumon came out to join him and they went further into the area. Not far from the Area Pad was what looked like an abandoned play area, such as where you would take your kids to have fun. Patrick quickly made his way past it. The torn teddies creeped him out. Beyond that was where he began to encounter digimon. They weren’t strong things, they were usually Baby level with the occasional In-Training, and Gabumon and Agumon fought them off with ease. Patrick had barely known them for a day or two and he was already getting a good idea of what their personalities were. Gabumon was the shy and scared one, but he was a faster fighter than Agumon when he had to throw a punch. Agumon was happy and loyal, quickly wanting to defend others if he had to. They made a good team, surprisingly enough. But Patrick knew that they weren’t his digimon. They were friends who had offered to help him. He’d have to see about getting his own Digimon eventually. They made their way deeper into Kowloon Lv. 1. There was a lift over to the side, but it was blocked by a fire wall and a hacker. Fire walls were different from security walls in the way that they didn’t fight back, but they could still be hard to get past. Patrick and the digimon left the lift alone and went farther into the area. All the way in the back was a dead-end, but that was where Patrick finally came across Gerard. He was sitting on Creepymon’s shoulder, hanging on to one of the digimon’s horns. With them was another hacker with his own digimon, who were practicing against what looked like a cream-colored dog with a gold ring around its neck.

“ _Puppy Howling_!” The dog screeched at the digimon but it moved out of the way. Said digimon looked like a blue dragon, no bigger than Gabumon or Agumon. Its claws, tail, and face were made of ice and there was white fur encircling its neck.

“ _Baby Hail_!” Shards of ice spit from its mouth, hitting the dog. With a yelp, the cream-colored digimon fled behind Creepymon.

“I think that’s enough, Ronnie.” Gerard got off Creepymon’s shoulder and landed on his feet. The dog moved to his side and Gerard scooped it into his arms. It licked his face, making him smile, but then it was shortly returned to the Digivice.

“When are we gonna take on stronger digimon?” asked Ronnie. Unlike his lighter-colored partner, the hacker had dark hair and dark eyes, hair partially tied back to be kept out of his eyes. He had a dark gray tank top and a windbreaker was flung over one shoulder. He had on jeans and his shoes were the same dark blue as his partner’s body. His Digivice was also a dark blue.

“When I think you’re strong enough.” Creepymon nudged Gerard’s shoulder and pointed over to Patrick. Of course the ‘I-could-kill-you-before-you-could-blink’ digimon spotted him first, “Oh, hey! Patrick, nice to see you here! C’mon over!”

“You know him?” Ronnie asked as Patrick came closer.

“I saved his bacon, actually. Now, what brings you to this desolate wasteland of broken computer data?”

“I was looking for you, actually. One of your group members told me you’d be here.” explained Patrick.

“Let me guess, you met Frank?” Patrick nodded. Gerard shook his head, “He’s a good guy, but he also likes to put fear into people sometimes. Don’t let him get to you. What did you wanna talk about?”

“I wanted to know if you’ve heard any rumors of a squid monster around EDEN or something.”

“A _squid monster_? You’re not serious!” Ronnie chuckled.

“Let him talk, Ronnie.” Gerard gave the other a look and Ronnie immediately stopped, “Patrick, these are Ronnie and his partner Bulucomon. They’re my ‘apprentices.’ As for the squid monster, I don’t think I can help you. I haven’t heard of anything like you’re talking about, unless it’s a digimon. Well, except maybe this one-off thing I heard about a few days ago. The rumor was that a squid monster showed up outta nowhere and ate an avatar, destroying their account. But that’s all I’ve heard about it. Does that help?”

“Yeah. It helps a lot.” It gave him somewhat of a lead, at least, “Thanks again for your help.”

“No trouble. But I wanna ask a favor of you, if you don’t mind.”

“Uh, what kind of favor?” questioned Patrick. Gerard jerked a thumb over at his apprentice.

“Ronnie here wants to keep getting stronger and complains about it. I have all sorts of digimon he could fight but apparently he’s not satisfied with it. Why don’t you give him a fight with your two digimon?”

“What?!” Patrick exclaimed.

“Yeah! Finally!” Ronnie said, “A challenge!”

“Don’t worry.” Gerard gave Patrick a nod, “He’s not as tough as he looks.”

“Yeah- Wait, what?! I’m strong!”

“Then fight Gabumon and Agumon. Let’s see who wins.” said Gerard, “That okay with you, Patrick?”

“Uh, sure.” Patrick had no idea how to fight with these two, but this would give him good practice. Gerard returned to his perk on Creepymon’s shoulder as the two hackers took to other sides of the dead end. Patrick was nervous about how this would go. What would happen if he lost? Probably nothing, but he knew little about Gerard as it was. And Bulucomon looked tough.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Agumon reassured, seeing Patrick’s nervousness, “Use your Digivice to help you out if you need it.”

“Right. Thanks.” Once things settled down and everyone was in their positions, Gerard spoke up.

“So, quick recap of how a battle works. Every digimon gets a turn. Fastest digimon goes first, and so on and so forth. You need to defeat your opponent to win. Good luck!” Creepymon crossed its arms as the battle started. Gabumon had the first move, surprisingly enough, then Bulucomon and, finally, Agumon. Patrick checked his Digivice for battle statistics. While both of his digimon were Virus and Bulucomon was Data, Bulucomon had an attribute advantage with Water over their Fire. What would cause more damage, the attributes or the types? Only one way to find out.

“Um, attack!” Patrick didn’t know what moves Gabumon had, so he could only hope for the best.

“ _Little Horn_!” Gabumon rushed forward, horn down, and charged right into Bulucomon. About a fourth of the dragon’s health was lost. Now it was his turn.

“ _Ice Mash_!” With Gabumon still so close, Bulucomon punched the other in the face, taking down at least a fourth of the other’s HP. Ronnie hadn’t even given a command for his partner, Bulucomon had chosen his own strategy. Whether that was a good or bad thing was to be seen.

“C’mon, Patrick!” Agumon said, “What do you want me to do?” On the Digivice’s screen were ‘Guard,’ ‘Skills,’ ‘Change,’ and ‘Item.’ Patrick picked Skills. There had to be something stronger they could use, right? Agumon only had two skills at the moment. ‘Spitfire Blast’ and ‘Destruction Cannon I.’ The description said the latter had more attack power, so they might as well go with that.

“Use Destruction Cannon!” Agumon did so. Instead of gushing out fire, he spit out a blob of darkness at Bulucomon. It practically halved the health the ice dragon had left. Patrick was confused until he saw the stat reduction Bulucomon had. Defense had been lowered and it wasn’t from Agumon. Gabumon’s Little Horn had lowered Bulucomon’s defense, making it easier to damage him. Now Patrick felt confident. He just wished he didn’t have to do a crash course for it.

“Little Horn again!”

“ _Little Horn_!” Bulucomon was knocked off his feet. The battle was over. Gerard clapped and Ronnie tended to his partner.

“Maybe you’re not such a greenie after all.” praised Gerard. Creepymon grunted and clapped a little himself. Gerard turned to Ronnie, “Now do you see why I keep you on this floor? You and Bulucomon still have a lot of work to do. You were at a disadvantage against Virus types, even if you had the attribute advantage. Type advantages deal more damage than attribute advantages. Plus, Bulucomon received a defense reduction from Gabumon’s Little Horn.”

“Didn’t help that it was two against one.” Ronnie grumbled, feeding Bulucomon more of the red pills Patrick had seen before. It helped the digimon sit up, but the icy dragon was a long way from being battle-ready again.

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice in who you’re fighting.” said Gerard.

“Um, I’m sorry for winning?” Patrick didn’t know if he should apologize or not.

“Next time, we’ll beat you.” Ronnie vowed.

 _Wonderful. I have a rival now._ Patrick thought.

“Thanks for the favor, Patrick. I owe you one. If you ever need anything, stop by the Killjoy Forum.” Gerard said, “Let’s go, guys.” Ronnie returned Bulucomon to his Digivice and Creepymon took the two on his shoulders before flying away.

“That was awesome!” Agumon cheered, “Gabumon, you were great!”

“Thanks.” The horned dog had his face covered by his claws. If his face was seen, it would’ve surely been blushing.

“Thanks a lot, you two.” Patrick rubbed their heads, “At least we’ve got a lead on what to do next. Maybe someone else has heard the same rumor. If we can figure out where it started, maybe we can find another squid thing.”

“Right!” “Right.” The two black digimon followed him as they started back towards the start of the area. Patrick felt better now that he had something to look forward to, even if a lot of searching was involved. And maybe part of that good thing was just winning a battle, since the last one had been so disastrous.


End file.
